Additional infoRecorded at The Cube, Albertine and Roystone Studios, Switzerland, summer/fall 2006.
Recorded and engineered by D-Teck and Stéphane Loup.
Mixed by Stefan Glaumann at Toytown Studios, Sweden.
Protool assistant: Tor Ingvarsson
Mastered by Henrik Jonsson at Masters of Audio, Stockholm.
Produced by Waldemar Sorychta and Xy.
All lyrics by Vorph.
All music by Xy.

Switzerland's Samael surprised a lot of people in 1996 when they deviated from their original Black Metal sound to embrace an EBM/Electro Indus sound. Ten years later, Samael is still going strong and Solar Soul is here to prove them right.

As far as it can be granted that the band name lost its significance long ago, Samael is a name to reckon with in the electro/industrial scene. For newcomers, Samael may sound like an exquisite blend of Moonspell and Oomph!. That is actually not far from the mark. The dark melodies features on Solar Soul, coupled with that strange electro sound, create a bizarre atmosphere all the way though the album.

Comments

Strange how things can age so badly. I literally adored this album when it was released; now it's probably my least favourite Samael work... Despite few great and catchy tunes like "Valkyries' New Ride", "Promised Land" and the title track, there are some of the most mediocre songs this band has ever made. "Suspended Time" and "Alliance" try to be groovy but end up being just vapid and lazy... Not to mention the borefest of "Ave!"... As for the rest, it's neither good nor terrible; overall it sounds just effortless.

EDIT: holy fuck, just noticed that on MA five people gave it a 100% score.

Written by Guest on 26.11.2011 at 15:08EDIT: holy fuck, just noticed that on MA five people gave it a 100% score.

Maybe 5 multi-accounts? No way even the idiotic reviewers at MA score this 100% across the board.

An average score of 94% on MA for this lazy album is almost unbelievable.
On the other hand, we have someone who gives 40% to the monstrous "Ceremony Of Opposites" because it doesn't sound trve raw grim black norwegian transilvanian hungarian appalachian wood.